Playing in the bell tower! The next day was raining, and since all the stuff we wanted to do required Mr. Golden Sun, we walked around Xi'an. The city has a center point, which is their Bell tower, and a drum tower. Both are fairly large, and seeing as this was my first Chinese experience I was pretty stoked on it. We listened to some old school (Tang dynasty) bell music and ran around both towers, which we cool, but I couldn't tell you anything about them as everything was in Chinese. After that, we decided to check out the Muslim quarter, a street of shopping and food for lunch. we ate some delicious although greasy street food, and walked around some more, and generally hung out.
The pagodaThe next day we continued being busy by gong to the Temple of 8 immortals. There was something important about this place, but I can't remember what it was, and wasn't overly impressed by it. We walked to the city wall and took a walk around it for a while, but seeing as it encompasses the entire city wall, and seeing as it was -432 degrees outside, we quickly gave up in search for hot chocolate. After dinner that night we ended up going to the Big Goose Pagoda for the light and water show which was actually really cool with the Pagoda lit up behind it.
Jing Di's lil' armyThe next day we woke up early to go to the tomb of JingDi~which is another old famous Chinese emperor. We was buried with all of his stuff, in addition to a small army. The army itself was large in number but small in stature. Hope he didn't see anything big in the afterlife. This was actually a really cool place, and they're working on it. It was a large compound underground. Some parts had glass plating on it so you could walk over it.
After this we went to the folk village to see how Xi'anites lived long ago. They were probably cold.
That night was Kym's birthday, so we celebrated in style and class...sort of. It was fun.
Doorways in the folk villageThe next day was less exciting. We went to a museum, and decided we were tired so went back, took a nap, ate a little, and watched movies in the hostel. I do like relaxing days ^.^b
Warriors! Thursday was the big one. This day we went to see the Terracotta warriors! We made friends with a bunch of people in the hostel and the group of us set off together. After an hour+ on a bus, we were dropped off in a lot, ate some breakfast and moved on. We got in, and hiked up to the actual warriors site. We watched a movie circa 1972 about what the warriors are (For those that don't know~watch more history channel! There is an entire clay army underground in China, its wild.) We heard from somebody in the hostel to do the pits in reverse order, so we started with pit 2. Which was nothing. LAME. We went to pit 3, where there were 4 horses and headless warriors. LAME. Then we went to pit 1, which is housed in an aircraft carrier. You walk in, and once you get through the crowds you see hundreds of warriors all lined up. Its actually really cool to see at first. The coolest thing is that they are all different, so they were modeled after that real army at the time. Really neat. We walked throughout this complex, which is huge, before starting the adventure back home.
With a warrior
Misty Mountain topsFriday we went out EARLY with Anna and new Norwegian friends, to run around and try and find a bus at 7am to Hua Shan; one of china's 5 sacred mountains. We got there, and immediately started the ascent since we were on a time limit to catch the bus. It was quite the climb. We climbed stairs and hills all day. We climbed up 90 degree slopes and stairs. We met a Chinese guy about half way up the north peak and continued up with him, making jokes about how the Norwegians were already at the top. It was a hard climb, maybe the hardest I've ever done! After we got to the north peak, we decided to continue another 2+ hours up to the west peak. I've never quit anything really in my life, but I was sure thinking of it. It was brutal, and we were hungry and tired. I made it to the top a few minutes behind my friends, and then we had to sprint back down the mountain to make the last bus, which we did, and eat more delicious street food than necessary. Mmmmm meat on a stick.
Hikers and Ivan, our Chinese friend
MosqueSaturday was our last day together, as we all went separate ways Sunday. Fiona and Kym went to see the Pandas, but since I was going to do that in Chengdu, I opted out for a stroll around the city. i went with Dexter and Anna to the great mosque, which was a nice, peaceful place in the city. There is a really large Muslim population in XI'an, as seen in their food and beliefs. The mosque was a really relaxing place, and a lot larger than I expected. After that we walked to DAIRY QUEEN. Exciting! We then spent the last night on the roof, drinking, eating, talking and general merriment before going to see a Tang Dynasty show. I thought this was hokey, but it was kind of neat to see how they danced a long time ago. We ate more street food for dinner, after making friends with a tour guide. all in all it was a nice night, and a great week.
I really like hanging out in Xi'an, and it was a good way to ease into China. All in all it was a great week.
Next: EP in Chengdu, and Beijing!
Patience and Faith,
ErinJ
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